AdvanSix Inc. is an American chemical company that produces

nylon 6 Nylon 6 or polycaprolactam is a polymer, in particular semicrystalline polyamide. Unlike most other nylons, nylon 6 is not a condensation polymer, but instead is formed by ring-opening polymerization; this makes it a special case in the compari ...

and related chemicals such as caprolactam and ammonium sulfate fertilizers.AdvanSix Inc
, Reuters. It operated as

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

's Resins and Chemicals division until 2016, when it was spun off as a separate company. The unit accounted for 3 percent of Honeywell's sales at the time. For 2019, revenue is estimated at $1.4 billion. The company traces its lineage to the H. W. Jayne Company, established 1884 in

Frankford, Pennsylvania Frankford is a neighborhood in the Northeast Philadelphia, Northeast section of Philadelphia situated about six miles (10 km) northeast of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City. Although its borders are vaguely defined, the neighborhood is ...

. AdvanSix has plants in Chesterfield and

Hopewell, Virginia Hopewell is an independent city (United States), independent city surrounded by Prince George County, Virginia, Prince George County and the Appomattox River in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 202 ...

, and Frankford and

Pottsville, Pennsylvania Pottsville is a city and the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,346 at the 2020 census, and is the principal city of the Pottsville, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies along the wes ...

. The Hopewell plant is one of the world's largest single-site producers of

caprolactam Caprolactam (CPL) is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula (CH2)5C(O)NH. This colourless solid is a lactam (a cyclic amide) of caproic acid. Global demand for this compound is approximately five million tons per year, and the vast ...

. It has an annual production capacity of 600,000 tons of ammonia and 400,000 tons of caprolactam. For context, global annual demand for caprolactam is estimated at 5 million tons. AdvanSix is an integrated chemical manufacturer. It produces

phenol Phenol (also known as carbolic acid, phenolic acid, or benzenol) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile and can catch fire. The molecule consists of a phenyl group () ...

in Frankford through the

cumene process The cumene process (cumene-phenol process, Hock process) is an industrial process for synthesizing phenol and acetone from benzene and propylene. The term stems from cumene (isopropyl benzene), the intermediate material during the process. It ...

, where it is converted to

in Hopewell, polymerized to

in Chesterfield and made into film at Pottsville. In addition to internal use, AdvanSix sells

acetone Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone) is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly Volatile organic compound, volatile, and flammable liquid with a charact ...

, and alpha-methylstyrene from the cumene process. They sell

cyclohexanol Cyclohexanol is the organic compound with the formula HOCH(CH2)5. The molecule is related to cyclohexane by replacement of one hydrogen atom by a hydroxyl group. This compound exists as a deliquescent colorless solid with a camphor-like odor, whi ...

and

cyclohexanone Cyclohexanone is the organic compound with the formula (CH2)5CO. The molecule consists of six-carbon cyclic molecule with a ketone functional group. This colorless oily liquid has a sweet odor reminiscent of benzaldehyde. Over time, samples of ...

made from phenol,

, as well as ammonium sulfate generated by the

Beckmann rearrangement The Beckmann rearrangement, named after the German chemist Ernst Otto Beckmann (1853–1923), is a rearrangement reaction, rearrangement of an oxime functional group to substituted amides. The rearrangement has also been successfully performed on ...

of cyclohexanone oxime. The company's nylon resins are used in food, liquid, and consumer packaging along with mono/multifilament products, carpet fibers, and automotive compounding. In May 2018, federal agents swarmed the company's Hopewell plant in response to a referral from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The investigation related to air emissions and was concluded in May 2019. In May 2019, the company announced that it would halt the production of biaxially-oriented nylon film in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, laying off 85 workers. This type of film is used in

food packaging Food packaging is a packaging system specifically designed for food and represents one of the most important aspects among the processes involved in the food industry, as it provides protection from chemical, biological and physical alterations ...

. The company now purchases the film from Oben Group in Lurin, Peru.AdvanSix halts nylon film making in Pennsylvania, cutting 85 jobs
" ''Plastics News'', May 15, 2019.

References

External links

* {{Official website , url = http://www.advansix.com/ Chemical companies of the United States